We do have filters, they are called our choices. How we stop the manipulating of choice, that's another matter.

Oddly, television is getting better while movies are getting worse. I'd suspect this was the talented screen people deciding that they could not get their smart ideas in movies so they jumped the shark and went to the boob tube.

Case in point--this new Clint Eastwood film, where Matt Damon can talk to the dead or some such rot. These are plots you see in twelth rate comic books.

The posts about the Strugatskys reminded me that a couple of years ago there was talk about an American version of ROADSIDE PICNIC. Tarkovsky freely adapted the novella for STALKER so you could make a new version that wouldn't have to be dependent on Tarkovsky at all. (I wish somebody had told Soderburgh that!)

And best of all it might have got Boris & Arkady back in print in english.

“We must not always talk in the marketplace,” Hester Prynne said, “of what happens to us in the forest.”-Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Morning everybody. I need to request a favor. Info desperately need. Particularly from Steve. I done had it with comcast. So how do I go about getting the Internet without Comcast? Is there a way to get AOL by itself? I am technically very stupid. Diane

Diane, what you need is to switch to a different Internet service provider, colloquially known as an ISP. That's the company that provides the actual connection of your computer to the Internet - AOL these days is really little more than another site on the World Wide Web, and you can access it through any ISP.

ISPs differ from one area to another, and I don't know specifically which are available in Chicago, but check around. Chances are your cable and/or phone company also offer Internet service. You'll find all sorts of different packages - different speeds, different offers, bundles of Internet service with cable and phone service for one lower price.

As it happens, I have Comcast too and I haven't had any serious problems with it - but that might be because Comcast competes fiercely with Verizon in my area, and they know that if any customer is unhappy, it's easy enough to switch, so they'll do their best to make sure everything is A-OK.

Well, let's be cautious about plugging ANY of these services - including FIOS.

I have FIOS. Strictly speaking of the customer service and billing games, they are agonizingly incompetent. They fuck up ALL the time.

A couple of examples:

I had to boxes, one dvr, one regular. They charged me for 4 boxes.

I recently sublet a room to a friend. He ordered a box for himself. They offered free installation as a new customer. When he called back to take them up on this, they said no such offer exists and it would cost him fees totaling around $130.

When he ordered his box, they sent over TWO.

He returned the extra box, but it still appeared on the bill the following month.

It's absurd!!

Time/Warner is just as bad, but in OTHER ways.

When competition is eliminated or minimized, they don't give a fuck. That's how they behave, at any rate.

This bit about panning government service in favor of private is bullshit.

Diane -- Steve B's post not withstanding, you always have the option of using a dial-up service like netzero. Just be sure you have a good phone service and local numbers to call. It's cheap, it's effective, and unca Harlan uses it. What's not to love?

Steve B -- you are correct, FIOS *does* rock. but they don't offer it in my neighborhood. yet. they keep promising any day now though.

as for the rest ... I have the choice between RCN and COMCAST where I live. I have RCN, because they offered me a better deal. I used to have COMCAST when they offered the best price. I switch when the price says it's time to switch. the service from both has been about the same level of mediocrity. that's what competition has given me. and the price I pay for the phone/internet/cable-tv hasn't changed in about 8 years because of it.

I'm not even sure HOW it rocks. It has a couple of channels I like that I couldn't get with TimeWarner (the alternative in MY area), otherwise, its selections have the same plusses and minuses as TW.

You're right about the price gauge, though. The prices don't change much because of the absence of new competitors. WAS a time the laws didn't allow businesses to do that! I think it makes these businesses bloody arrogant.

LAST night, they interrupted everything with the "emergency test" noise. For some reason they repeated the interruption about 10 minutes later. In another 15 minutes it cut in a THIRD time. Then there was a FOURTH interruption!!